SPORTS OF THE TIMES; A Great Choice, Even if Others Were Worthy

By GEORGE VECSEY

Published: October 3, 2009

Congratulations to a new city, a new country and, in fact, to a new continent for the Olympic Games. The five Olympic rings make more sense now.

In recent years, the International Olympic Committee has expressed the need to represent all its constituencies, to move its quadrennial festivals around the world.

The I.O.C. has put its money where its press releases have been. On Friday it voted to put the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro, thereby putting the Olympics in South America for the first time in what will be the 120th year of the modern Olympic movement.

In the cosmic scheme of things, it was the absolute right thing to do, even though three other great world cities made compelling bids -- Chicago, eliminated first, Tokyo eliminated second, and Madrid. Any of them would have been terrific, but Rio made the most sense in the spirit of the Games, often expressed, not always observed by the Eurocentric burghers who dominate the I.O.C.

Geopolitical bloc voting could have produced the spread that saw Chicago with the low total of 18 votes after the first round, according to Harvey Schiller, a former executive director of the United States Olympic Committee, who was an observer in Copenhagen. Now the president of the International Baseball Federation, Schiller said Chicago suffered because of recent gaffes by the U.S.O.C., but he also said the desire to spread the Games around was a factor.

Next year's World Cup, the biggest sports tournament in the world, will be held in South Africa because of the inclusive policy of the world soccer body, FIFA. In 2014 the World Cup will be held in Brazil. Welcome to the world.

With the push of an electronic button in Copenhagen, nearly 100 I.O.C. members supported the expression by Brazil's president, Luiz In?o Lula da Silva, that it was the right time to correct the imbalance among world sporting hosts. Last week in New York, da Silva made the case that Brazil's growing economy, fueled by oil and aircraft factories, had made it more than the nation of the samba and the beaches and the emotional soul of soccer.

''I honestly believe it is Brazil's time,'' da Silva said Friday, and a few hours later, it was.

Brazil's leaders have tried to combat the image of the gangs in the hillside favelas, or slums, with da Silva noting that Brazil, at least, is not the target of world terrorism. In the fierce competition for this world showcase, just about anything is fair game.

The biggest loss on Friday was suffered by Chicago, which had put up an impressive plan for a compact area close to Lake Michigan and its familiar skyline and its handsome downtown.

The Chicago City Council even voted, by 49-0, early in September, to create an insurance plan that would guarantee any losses from the 2016 Games. Losses can happen, as shown by the large deficits and empty arenas for previous hosts like Montreal, Sydney and Athens. In recent polls, Chicagoans seemed virtually divided, with many residents concerned that the Games could take away resources from schools and hospitals and the transportation system. The Olympics are hardly the economic boon its boosters like to claim.

When Chicago was eliminated in the first round, thousands of residents let out a mass sigh and shuffled back to work, just as happened in Paris in 2005 when that city lost to London.

Britain's prime minister at the time, Tony Blair, had flown all the way to Singapore to bring home the 2012 bacon. In 2007, the then-president of Russia, Vladimir V. Putin, made the run to Guatemala City to bring home the 2014 blinis for the Sochi region.

This time, President Barack Obama felt impelled to make a flying visit to Copenhagen, joining his wife, Michelle, as well as Oprah Winfrey. It is a sign of the times that the president's willingness to stick up for a great American city was depicted as sordid local politics by radio and television yappers.

The president talked about Chicago and himself as examples of American diversity, he chatted up I.O.C. members, and maybe he never changed a single mind because of factors having nothing to do with him.

Some members of the I.O.C. are still smarting over the scandal at the turn of the century when officials in Salt Lake City were discovered buying off I.O.C. members. Some members still miss the shopping trips for their wives and jobs for their sons, and have not forgotten the anger of Senator John McCain at one Senate hearing in April 1999 and of representatives at a Congressional hearing in December 1999.

Those long memories did not help New York's clumsy candidacy for the 2012 Games, and may have hurt the vastly superior plan by Chicago this time around. The U.S.O.C., which has become as remote as North Korea, may have doomed Chicago's bid by trying to create an Olympic television network.

The three defeated cities will go on.

Chicago still has its symphony orchestra and the Art Institute and the Bears.

Tokyo had a competent green plan for 2016, but it may have suffered for having already hosted the Games. It continues to be a fascinating city, with the Tsukiji fish market, plus the city, lit up at night like a pinball machine.

Madrid had a compact and thoughtful plan but probably was hurt by Barcelona's having hosted the Games in 1992. It still has Goya in the Prado and Real Madrid in the Bernabeu stadium.

Rio may have given the impression that it needed the Games more than the other three cities. It can surely match its competitors for image -- ''city of love and mysteries,'' in the Antonio Carlos Jobim song, ''Song of the Jet,'' which will make anybody an instant Brazilian. The I.O.C., in its burgeoning inclusiveness, is doing the same. Parab? ao Brasil. Congratulations to Brazil.

PHOTOS: A huge crowd gathered on Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro for Friday's announcement. Brazil is already preparing to host soccer's World Cup in 2014.(PHOTOGRAPH BY LALO DE ALMEIDA FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES); President Obama addressed the International Olympic Committee in Copenhagen on Friday. An ad hailing Chicago's bid, below left, lay discarded after I.O.C. President Jacques Rogge announced Rio de Janeiro had won.(PHOTOGRAPH BY STEPHEN CROWLEY/THE NEW YORK TIMES); (PHOTOGRAPH BY TONY DREIBUS/BLOOMBERG); (PHOTOGRAPH BY PAWEL KOPCZYNSKI/REUTERS)